Because the Personal is Historical

Gillard vs. Abbott

by Sean Cosgrove on October 11, 2012

Julia Gillard (Australian’s current, and first female, Prime Minister) has made waves both at home (which for me is Australia) and overseas after her explosive speech calling out the leader of the opposition (currently Tony Abbott) for not only being sexist but fostering an environment of sexism and misogyny.

No one gets a prize (sad, I know) for guessing that the issue is complicated. Gillard’s speech arose out of a motion, put forward by the opposition party, to fire the Speaker of the House. The Speaker, Mr. Slipper, has been embroiled in a sexual harassment suit after some particularly, let’s say distasteful, text messages were made public. The case was still ongoing, however, so Mr. Slipper had retained his position (he has since resigned). The implication, couched in the shocking language of shame (which has become offensive in a whole new fashion since Australian radio presenter, Alan Jones, declared that Gillard’s recently deceased father had ‘died of shame’), was that by defending Mr. Slipper the Government was defending his actions.

Gillard let him have it. It wasn’t just that the Opposition hurled an insult at the Prime Minister but that she, of all people, would be defending sexism? No. No, no, no.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I daresay you should. Politics aside, it’s one of the most compelling speeches I have seen in a long time. So compelling, in fact, that I, who has perhaps tweeted 20 times in my life, tweeted the clip. And then posted it to Facebook for good measure.

Despite this, I went back and forth about whether or not to write anything about this, and then whether or not to post it. It’s received tremendous airtime (so does it need to be posted again?). This is a history blog (do I have an historical angle? Do I need one?). I also wasn’t sure that my next post (by which I mean this second post) should also be about sexism again (do I want to be that guy?). In the end, however, I didn’t think it right to raise an issue not a week ago only to step away from it when it rears its head in a non-academic setting.

So I want to invite you to watch the clip below (fair warning though, it is 15 minutes long) and perhaps think about sexism? Perhaps how it has operated historically? How it operates today? Who it affects? And how all this has changed?

I certainly don’t have all, or even many, of the answers to such a big question, but if we can think about it, really consider it, then I have no doubt that we can move in the right direction.

Nursing Clio is a collaborative blog project that ties historical scholarship to present-day political, social, and cultural issues surrounding gender and medicine. Men’s and women’s bodies, their reproductive rights, and their healthcare are often at the center of political debate and have also become a large part of the social and cultural discussions in popular media. Whether the topic is abortion, birth control, sex, or the pregnant body, each and every one of these issues is embedded with historical dynamics of race, class, and gender. Read our full mission statement →